Finding comfort in leather
by lilyme
Summary: Meeting in a club by chance, two old acquaintances find they have something in common that might draw them unexpectedly closer
1. Chapter 1

**Author: **lilyme  
**Title: **Finding comfort in leather  
**Summary: **Meeting in a club by chance, two old acquaintances find they have something in common that might draw them unexpectedly closer

**Rating: **PG-13  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended!  
**Pairing: **Guess... You know me ;)

**A/N #1:** Special thanks to Elle and Mel for helping me with some details ;)  
**A/N #2: **Don't pay too much attention to any details I'll write about locations in Miami. I've never been there, so I don't really know how things look there ;)

**A/N #3:** I originally wrote this story in German in late 2008, for a Halloween-challenge. It made third place (yay!) and funnily enough it mentions Halloween only once, and only as a side-note :P Again certain prompts had to be included. This time:

_+ Ocean Drive (Florida, Miami)_

_+ Faith Lehane_

_+ Nut chocolate_

_+ "In life it was always better to be a doer than a victim"_

_+ Offcuts from meat_

_+ Spell_

_+ Leather skirt_

Hope you enjoy this story! ;)

* * *

**_Finding comfort in leather_**

_Part one of three_

If life was a pack of cigs... No, better, if life was a bottle of whiskey, hers was...

Ah, hell, philosophy wasn't her thing . Life is just life, and hers was going pretty good right now.

She wasn't in prison anymore. After Sunnydale's collapse she hadn't returned there. Even though she had actually planned on doing that, very much because she had originally turned herself in to get into a certain girl's good graces again.

Well, that had still worked out kinda. However, not in the way she had hoped. Of course her true hopes concerning this person had been a little too high – they always had been. Still were.

Yet after her escape from prison, which she had only dared to help avert two apocalypses within a few days, they had formed a relatively normal relationship again. Not a friendship really, but at least their days as enemies were over.

But things went the way they did most times. At some point – in this case, after the Hellmouth's destruction – they had gone their separate ways.

She hardly had any contact to the girl anymore. Neither to the rest of the Sunnydale gang, now scattered all over the world. Nor to Team Angel - according to recent information now embodying CEO & Co. of Wolfram and Hart in L.A. She didn't know what to think about that. To each his own maybe... or something like that.

As long as they didn't bring forth the next apocalypse...

Because then maybe she'd be asked for help yet again, and actually she didn't want that. She had come to terms with how her life was going at the moment, had made her peace with it. Even more than just that, because she knew that there were "soldiers" in the fight against evil out there that had been dealt a fairly worse life.

At her own request she had retreated from this fight almost entirely and now lead the life of a slayer in semi-retirement. It was only occasionally that she went out to slay. Down here in Florida, there wasn't much to do in terms of diminishing the vampire population anyway, since only very few bloodsucking fiends ever found their way here.

The reason? Well, too much sunshine probably wasn't it – although it did seem to make the undead's unlife here a little less appealing. Naturally, there was plenty of sunshine here, but _Sunny_dale hadn't been all that different. How else do you think that name came to be?

No... maybe it had something to do with Florida's reputation as 'senior citizen state'; most vamps probably preferred younger victims.

Of course there was also this eeny weeny, teeny tiny chance that they had watched CSI Miami one too many times and now were afraid to run into Horatio with his sunglasses, his weird monotonous way of talking and his permanently cocked head...

This thought made laugh her every time. But whereas Horatio was only a fictional character, the CSI really existed. She had had dealings with them once, during one of that very few times when they had _had _a vampire incident.

Apparently they were equally as stupid as the Sunnydale police and had actually bought her impersonation of a Puerto Rican government expert for all sorts of venomous animals. Had believed her when she had told them that the two little holes in the neck of a body found on the beach had been caused by a snake.

Their fault – if they had taken a closer look at her oh-so-official-looking ID, they could have smelled the rat.

But missions like this one were a rare occasion. Her main task now consisted of the occasional tracking down of new slayers, who then would be sent to England to receive proper slayer training. She was responsible for slayer recruiting in the southeastern area of the US and also the Caribbean. The remaining parts of the United States and the rest of the world were handled by other members of the slayer army.

The majority of her time she spent, however, in a much different way. In her "old age", she really seemed to develop ambition. She had started taking evening classes in order to get her GED. If somebody out there knew about this development, that somebody would probably be proud of her. But nobody knew. Like in old times, she preferred to keep private stuff to herself – it was a habit that obviously wasn't very easy to kick, as much as she wanted to sometimes.

Occasionally she also worked in a friend's motorbike shop. She had always had a thing for bikes, and her friend appreciated her work. Despite not having had any kind of professional training in this field, she had remarkable handling and know-how.

Naturally she also had her very own bike by now. Partly to pick up new slayers on her business travels, but mostly for fun. Because that was still her priority. Riding her bike, surfing, flirting, a date or two here, a little non-committal 'sleepover' there.

Over all, life in Miami really wasn't so bad. And if you went scouting in the right places, there was a lots yummy eye candy to discover.

Today it was scouting day again. It was Saturday – the day on which she was most likely to be in party mood traditionally. And in the mood to pick someone up. Who exactly that would be, she didn't know yet; most of the times, these things just happened spontaneously – her eyes fell on someone and she just_ knew_ if this person would be it for tonight.

For this night to turn out successful, it was not unimportant to get a little dressed up – that often made the whole of process of hooking up much easier. She decided on her best pair of denims, dark blue, very tight, and a black wife beater. One could almost get the impression, those were the only kind of tops to be found in her closet, because in her earlier years she had worn them almost exclusively as well. Of course that wasn't all true, she also had a bunch of other stuff now, but they still were her favorite, they accentuated her goodies just the way she liked it.

She laid a quick hand on her make-up and her long, dark hair and left the apartment that wasn't particularly big or contained the most luxurious furniture – was in short exactly how she had wanted it. With the financial aid she received from the Watcher's Council, she could easily afford something bigger, fancier, but she knew that she wouldn't feel at home in something like that – it wouldn't feel like hers.

The neighborhood she lived in didn't have a reputation as one of the best addresses in Miami. An industrial area in relatively close proximity to the city's most famous drive.

She decided to walk. Her favorite club was only a few blocks away. It was a walk that that lead her past slaughterhouse waste of the various meat-processing industries. Feathers, beaks, chicken feet, hides, some entrails were and there. Any other person might feel the need to throw up upon being confronted with this. But she barely even took note of this sight anymore, had gotten used to it.

Soon she turned into Ocean Drive, the club already in sight. There was a small queue at the entrance and she got in line, waiting patiently to be lead in. When it was her turn, the bouncer – handsome in his tall, tattooed and muscular way - waved her through with a welcoming smile. He knew her, of course; he knew her pretty well, in fact, being as how she had flirted with him occasionally in the beginning. However, he had always rejected her advances, though very politely so. Only later on she had found out the reason for this.

Yet out of these unsuccessful flirt attempts a friendship had developed, so that now they also met outside of the club and did things. "Have fun, honey. I bet there's someone in there for you tonight," he called after her with a wink of his eye, before he attended to the next in line.

Her bouncer-buddy was apparently right. But that didn't come as a surprise to her; he had real good taste – especially concerning the males of the species. He also had an eye for girls, although he didn't have any sexual interest in them. Which was the exactly the reason for why her flirting with him had been pretty fruitless.

She herself wasn't as 'picky' when it came to potential flirt partners. Guy, girl – as long as she liked the person, that little detail didn't matter.

And tonight there was enough potentially 'likeable' material present.

A blonde guy in a casual suit, whose eyes clung to her tight shirt within seconds. A cute little brunette in a skimpy, dark red dress, whose attention, however, was elsewhere at the moment – the girl was busy making goo-goo eyes at an admittedly pretty attractive male. Another man with piercing blue eyes and stylish black hair, dressed down in jeans and black button-up shirt was leaning against a pillar and raised his glass to her. She knew him. Just like her, he was here often. They had checked each other out plenty and knew that someday they might have a thing or two, but also knew that there was no need to rush anything. About five feet away from him stood another guy. All muscled and toned, but not overly so. Just the way she liked it.

He seemed to be the most interesting candidate tonight; and seemed to be equally as interested in her – the grin he sent her way was already pretty promising.

But just when she was about to make her way over to him, something else caught her eye.

There at the bar... sat the tightest black leather skirt _she_ – the expert in all things leather - had _ever_ seen...

Of course the leathery garment wasn't sitting there by itself. It clothed the body of someone. A someone Faith only paid attention to now. Leaving the skirt, her eyes flew down to the legs. Beautiful, long legs, mildly freckled. Black pumps with not all too high heels graced the feet. From the feet her eyes moved back up, and again they found the skirt. Damn, how she loved leather. On her own body, but also on the bodies of others; especially female others. Her gaze wandered over the nearly see-through, dark red blouse and then landed on the hair. Also red.

This usually wasn't her type. Blond... yeah, that was more to her liking... though she had long made plans to give up this preference. All too painful memories of an unrequited love were the reason.

She watched the girl for a little while longer. Maybe this was the perfect time to try out something new, the perfect time to declare war on this painful addiction to blondes. Or rather to_ a_ blonde in particular.

Adjusting her outfit, she went over to the bar. She finally wanted to take a look at the face of the redheaded, leather-clad beauty.

And her wish came true on its own. The redhead turned her head slightly, scanning the club. Her eyes hadn't yet noticed the person that was currently stalking up on her from behind.

When the now-Miamian took in the woman's face, she stopped abruptly, frowning. Not because the redhead wasn't attractive; quite the contrary. But the profile view of the face was enough for her to be very certain that she knew that person.

Red...?

* * *

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author: **lilyme  
**Title: **Finding comfort in leather  
**Summary: **Meeting in a bar by chance, two old acquaintances find they have something in common that might draw them unexpectedly closer

**Rating: **PG-13  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended!  
**Pairing: **Guess... You know me ;)

**A/N #1:** Special thanks to Elle and Mel for helping me with some details ;)  
**A/N #2: **Thanks for your awesome reviews, guys! And lookie, here's part two already. Enjoy ;)

* * *

**_Finding comfort in leather_**

_Part two of three_

She needed a few moments to process the information her eyes were trying to transmit her brain.

Okay, this was Red, this much was clear. The prominent nose, the thin, yet not unappealing lips. Everything just how she remembered it.

But... when had Red gotten so damn hot? And _when_ had she started wearing _leather_? Because for her this was exactly what made her this hot.

Yeah, she had heard of a Halloween incident long long time ago, had heard of a skimpy outfit consisting of a leather skirt, a red midriffy blouse-y something and knee-high boots. But her mind had never been able to fully picture this look on Willow. Now it could – Red's current apparel probably came pretty close.

She herself only remembered Red in sneakers, colorful, fuzzy sweaters, bright pants or almost childlike skirts, completed with funny hats and shrill-colored panty-hoses. In later years, her clothes had been a little more muted; long skirts in earthy tones and tops depicting a similar style.

She knew, why Willow's style had changed this much back then – the death of her girlfriend and the guilt about her subsequent killing spree the reason. Red had tried to leave this dark phase of her life behind her, had tried to forget, to start anew.

The slayer could understand that; even if her own new style had consisted of prison clothing. After prison she had more or less adopted her old style again... for no specific reason, however. Maybe because it was convenient, or maybe because she was too used to it to simply change it. Maybe... just maybe she subconsciously executed some kind of self-flagellation; perhaps a part of her needed those clothes as a reminder of her deeds, her former life – a reminder so she wouldn't make the same mistakes again.

But... what had caused Red's renewed change? Was it Halloween _again_? As far as she knew, that one was still a few months away...

All she knew was that by just standing here, gawking and wrecking her brain, she wouldn't find out what was up with the redhead's clothes. Or why the girl was even here, in her town, in her hangout. Curiosity got the better of her and thus she decided to just go and ask the redhead. Simple as that.

She quickly gave the guy she had wanted to hook up with a sign that she had changed her mind and headed over to the bar. Some iiiiinnocent questions couldn't hurt, right? Besides... even though the girl at the bar was Red... she was still damn hot.

As she approached, she noticed that Willow had almost emptied her glass already. A perfect opener for a conversation. She positioned herself in such a way that Red wouldn't be able to see her right away and asked nonchalantly, "Care for a refill? On me?"

The voice had a pleasant sound to it and thus the redhead turned her head, facing the owner of said voice with a smile. "Yes, I'd like that...". Since she was sitting down, her eyes inevitably landed on the still standing girl's cleavage. Which she found very much to her liking. But as soon as she noticed the tattoo on her counterpart's upper arm, the smile vanished from her face within seconds and was replaced by pure shock. This tattoo... in her mind, it was linked to a one very specific person.

Only now she realized that she knew that voice as well. Still as raspy as it used to be, maybe now even a little deeper than she remembered it. Which may be due to the fact that the voice had just come on to her...

Her thoughts about the pleasant sound of the voice and the equally pleasant view of the cleavage vanished for good, when her eyes finally dared to look up into the face of the other person. Big, brown eyes, a light trace of freckles on the delicate nose, extremely full lips, the bottom lip still a good part larger than the upper one. And the most striking feature in this already very distinct face – two very pronounced dimples, which were grinning at her blatantly. "Faith!"

Faith had followed the tour of Willow's eyes closely, had observed her reaction. From enthused to aghast within seconds. It was kinda funny, but also... kinda not. "Don't look at me like I'm one of übervamp things coming to get you. I thought that phase was behind us," she simply said and took a seat next to the redhead uninvited.

Suddenly Red didn't seem to be feeling as comfortable in her skin – or more precisely, in her clothes. Her hand had moved to the hemline of her skirt, was tugging on it nervously, obviously trying to push it down a little further, trying to cover her thighs a little more. "Sorry... I-I didn't think I'd run into someone who knows me".

The brunette just shrugged, "I live here, remember?"

"Yes. But that doesn't mean that we'd... never mind". Yeah, it didn't mean that they would run into each other. Miami was big, after all.

Under Faith's scrutinizing look Willow tensed up more with every second. There was no a trace left of the self-confidence with which she had entered this club. Suddenly she felt as if it had been a really stupid idea to come here in the first place.

But then Faith showed mercy and took her eyes off the girl for a minute, looking around the club. She noticed that there was no Kennedy to be seen anywhere. "Now, do you want that drink or not?"

"On you," Willow repeated Faith's offer rather incredulously. Part of her still believed that this had just been a pick-up line.

"Yep, what did you think? That was a serious offer. After all, I already knew it was you when I came over".

"Okay..." Willow couldn't say why this additional information astonished her a little, since it was actually pretty logical that Faith had recognized her. Otherwise the brunette's facial features would have slipped as well when she had turned around.

Faith motioned to the barkeeper and soon he put a fresh Savoy Royale in front of Willow. Faith was served a Jack Daniel's without even having to order it. No stunner – she knew that barkeeper very well too and he knew what she liked.

Willow thanked her with a now less incredulous nod, took a sip and watched as Faith gulped down half of her whiskey at once.

"So, what are you doing here?" the slayer finally asked the redheaded girl while trying to contain her curiosity at the same time. Which wasn't easy. After all, Willow lived far from here, in Brazil with...

"I'm just passing through. Giles needs me in England for a few weeks," Willow answered probably truthfully, though Faith noticed something else in her voice. There had to be a reason for why Red was sitting in this club looking like that – at least, according to Faith. She believed to know this reason, but decided against bringing it up... just yet.

"Passing through, huh? Can't you just 'beam' yourself over to England or something like that?" Whatever you really call that thing witches were able to do. At least she knew what she was referring to.

Willow smiled a little, the choice of words was pretty funny. "I could do that," she nodded. "But I don't do magic unless it's really necessary".

"Huh". Faith returned. This statement wasn't unwise, if one knew what magic had done to Willow years before.

Yeah, Faith probably knew more about the redhead's dark past than this one was aware of. But she could imagine that it wasn't that different the other way around. This thought not least crossed her mind since Willow was currently looking at her knowingly.

Faith raised her glass to her old acquaintance. Willow returned this gesture a few moments later and both took a sip of their respective drink.

They had to maintain control over their lives. Because in life it was always better to be a doer than a victim. And they knew what was the only way to make this happen. The less magic Willow practiced, the less was the danger of being consumed by it again. And the less she herself was involved in demon hunting, the less was the danger of making a mistake like the one so many years ago in an alley near a warehouse in Sunnydale again.

"You here alone? I don't see Kenny anywhere," Faith asked to distract herself from her own thoughts. Because as 'nice' as all this self-flagellation was... she rather avoided thinking about the trigger for her descend into darkness.

And then something flitted over Willow's features. Something that had resounded in her voice a few minutes ago already when she had explained that she was on her way through. It probably hadn't to with the fact that she had just called the other girl 'Kenny'. 'Kenny' herself was so not fond of that nickname, but that didn't bother Faith in the least. Besides she only called her that when she wanted to drive her up the wall.

"Kenny...," Willow started, adopting Faith's wording, "is in Rio, holding the fort".

She didn't say more, but Faith waited in suspense, knowing there was more to it...

"And... things with us aren't looking too good right now. I caught her cheating on me with another girl".

That last sentence was stated so softly that, without her slayer hearing, she certainly would have missed it. And thus she wasn't quite sure, if it was meant for her to hear or not.

But what Red had just – maybe involuntarily -confided in her only strengthened her belief that people weren't built for relationships. At some point one always hurts the other. This is how it always had been, how it always will be. She knew very well, why she had kept Robin at arm's length - even after his 'surprise'. Not because she was afraid that he might hurt her... Okay, maybe a little. But actually she hadn't wanted him to put expectations in her that she couldn't fulfill. Expectations that a relationship would bring along with.

At some point he had accepted that there would never be more between them than the occasional night together and had left. He now worked as principal at the school integrated into Slayer Central in England, since of course the junior slayers still needed a proper education.

Thinking about England brought her back to Willow and she looked at the redhead pensively. Now the stopover in Miami finally made sense to her. The longer Willow needed for her trip to England and back, the longer she and Kennedy could avoid one another. Not all that stupid. And by now she had an idea what Willow was aiming at with her revealing clothing. If Red knew that she knew why she sitting in a club dressed like that?

But at the moment it didn't appear like Willow wanted to put her plan into action. And that was not least because of her presence, Faith was sure of that. If she simply went away now... No, that would be stupid too, since she suddenly had the overwhelming urge to help Red... however that help would look like.

Tentatively she laid a hand on Willow's shoulder and put on an, as she hoped, understanding smile. To be spouting 'I'm-sorrys' in this situation or to offer to give Kennedy a well-deserved slayer thrashing wouldn't be right. She wasn't good at that first thing and she wasn't up to going through with the second one. But only since it wouldn't help the situation any.

Willow accepted the smile, even returned it a little and whispered a "Thank you" that was just barely louder than her last statement.

When she removed her hand a few seconds later, she wasn't sure any more whether or not she should address Willow's actual scheme or if she should rather find another topic to talk about. She finally decided on the latter, hoping to lighten the redhead's mood a little. "So, what's the family doing? Xander, Giles, Pipsqueak...B? Andrew, for all I care. They okay?"

Damn, why did she have to ask about B? She wasn't even sure she really wanted to know how the blonde was doing. What she was doing. Or who...

Willow wasn't surprised at the sudden change of topics; part of her was grateful for it. Grateful to be able to think about something else for a while. "Oh... well, Xan is still in Africa. He likes it there, though he keeps complaining about the weather... Giles... I think he needs more peace and quiet in his old days; the girls are giving him a hard time," she smirked. "And he thought Buffy had been the most exhausting thing that could happen to him".

Faith laughed briefly. Very briefly, since Red would soon be talking about the one person, who still played a weighty role, not to say the main role, in her thoughts.

"The others are in Rome now. Dawn's going to college there. Don't ask me why Andrew is living there with them – I have no idea; I hope, at least Buffy knows why he's there. Buffy... I guess she's simply enjoying her life without that daily dose of slayage and danger. And..."

She stopped and took a brief look at Faith out of the corner of her eye. Because she knew that what she would say now wouldn't sit well with the brunette. Faith had loved Buffy... probably still did. She wasn't stupid – of course she had noticed this; especially because she knew this feeling all too well. She had felt similar. Although in her case this love hadn't been as strong, since she had managed to finally let other people in her heart. She couldn't be sure, if Faith had managed to do that, but she doubted it.

"... she has a new boyfriend. Calls himself 'The Immortal'".

"'The Immortal'?" Faith repeated with a face as alarmed as Willow had expected. "Doesn't sound particularly... human".

Willow nodded. "None of us know for sure... well, except Dawn and Andrew, maybe... and Buffy, of course. But we're thinking something along the lines of...vampire."

Faith scoffed, not amused. No, she definitely shouldn't have asked about Buffy. "Well, you really don't stand a chance with B, if your heart's still beating".

"Xander's said something similar," Willow replied, even though she knew that this was only little comfort for Faith. He was simply one more victim of the Buffy love bug.

"Guess he knows what he's talking about". Faith sighed and got up. This wasn't right – she needed to somehow get this unwanted information out of her head again. Or suppress it at least. For a little while. "Wanna dance?"

Willow frowned. For one thing, this question came totally unexpected... and for another... "I don't dance," she replied, looking up into the face that now portrayed disappointment and sadness. Caused by Buffy and her new vampire toy, not by her refusal.

Because now Faith's look became skeptical, but also a little aggressive. She looked down at Willow's shoes. Low heel, comfy. "Those weren't made for _not-_dancing," she opined and locked eyes with the Willow. "Red, don't you think I've figured this thing out by now? You don't wanna dance now, because I'm here. Because I know how you've danced in the past... or actually that you haven't danced. You don't wanna embarrass yourself in front of me. But tonight... you wanted to dance. You wanted to score, to have fun with someone. You wanted to take revenge on Kenny, show her the ropes. I don't think you'd be sitting in this club looking like this if that wasn't the case. It's not your style".

Hadn't Willow clenched her teeth so tightly, her jaw would have dropped into her lap. Faith had figured her out. But why did that actually surprise her? Faith wasn't stupid. And she seemed to have some expertise in this area – had probably cooked up similar schemes in her life.

No, Faith's sudden outburst didn't surprise her. But it annoyed her. Okay, Buffy had a new, undead boyfriend, but did Faith have to take her frustration about this out on her?

She didn't reply, rather waited to see if Faith had something more to say. And she wasn't disappointed.

"I'm going over there now," she motioned to the dance floor, "and if you decide you wanna follow through with your plan after all, then you just come over, okay?" Her look became friendlier. Or at least it showed the same mixture of sadness and disappointment again. "You know, Red... You're really hot. You just have to relax a little".

One last time her eyes wandered over Willow's outfit, before she turned around and headed over to the dance floor...

… And left a confused Willow-mix of an anger and sympathy sitting alone at the bar.

_to be continued...__  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author: **lilyme  
**Title: **Finding comfort in leather  
**Summary: **Meeting in a bar by chance, two old acquaintances find they have something in common that might draw them unexpectedly closer

**Rating: **R  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended!  
**Pairing: **Guess... You know me ;)

**A/N:** Special thanks to Elle and Mel for helping me with some details ;)  
**  
**

* * *

**_Finding comfort in leather_**

_Part three of three_

Willow watched as Faith headed over to the dance floor and began to do what she did probably better than anyone else the redhead knew. Dancing. Luring.

And it was within seconds that a cluster of people formed around her, closing her in. This was to be expected; when dancing Faith emanated an attraction, you simply couldn't resist...

Unless your name was Willow Rosenberg and you were still trying to digest her tirade. The slayer was right, though – with everything she had just said.

Yes, she had come here to have fun... fun on an interpersonal level that possibly should have found an even more interpersonal end. Yes, she had wanted to pay Kennedy back with that.

And... yes... these clothes weren't her style.

She hadn't even known she had them in her closet; had known even less why she taken them with her when she had packed her bags for her trip to England with stopover in Miami...

Or why her stopover had to be here of all places. Here... in the town Faith lived in. A circumstance that she hadn't even been consciously aware of back then.

Faith's most veritable statement, of course, gave her most food for thought. With the slayer showing up she had thrown her plans overboard – startled, ashamed. It wasn't because it was Faith... It was because it was a person who knew her. She would have reacted in a similar way, if it had been someone from Angel's crew – and half of these guys she hardly knew.

She watched Faith, who in the throng was hardly even to make out any more, watched as this one did exactly what she herself should be doing now. Because even if Faith and Buffy weren't a couple, had never even remotely been one... the fact that Buffy had – yet again – hooked up with a demon, presumed vampire, had hurt Faith deeply. Just like Kennedy's cheating had hurt her.

Dancing had to be some sort of heartsickness medicine for Faith. For herself dancing was... mostly shuffling her feet clumsily and moving her arms in preferable harmony with them, trying to stay in tact.

It was hard work – and she really couldn't say that about Faith.

Today wouldn't have been any different. Only _after_ she hopefully would have been able to depart with the knowledge that it had been worth it and that she would never see the people who had witnessed her dance again.

And now she was put off by the presence of a familiar face?

No... Again Faith was right. She needed to loosen up, if she wanted to score with someone around here. Even if the someone was Faith. Because the brunette was... oddly, even pleasantly friendly tonight.

Okay, even to her own ears that sounded pretty bad.

Faith was simply... different... than she remembered her. Well, apart from the clothes. But she seemed to have become a little tamer in the last months, was a little more at peace with herself. A small bit of the aggressiveness from earlier days was still there, but only surfaced, if old wounds got reopened.

Just like it had happened a few minutes ago.

She couldn't hold this against her, as hard as she tried to... To have an excuse to not follow her onto the dance floor. She wanted to dance with Faith, test out if Faith's medicine might work for her as well...

Only where should that relaxedness come from that Faith was talking about? This relaxedness she needed – as she knew herself.

Suddenly she remembered the glass she was still holding in her hand. Her drink. She downed the rest of it in one and waited for the liberating effect... that didn't come. Simple reason – too little alcohol. Peaches, strawberries, sugar and a little bit of champagne – no wonder this didn't work.

But right next to her stood Faith's half empty Jack Daniel's. She thought about it for a moment, grabbed the drink and gulped it down, before she had a chance to change her mind.

Gross.

Her throat burned and for a moment she thought she'd never get rid of that taste again. But at least the whiskey showed the desired effect – her inhibitions disappeared... to some extent, at least. So, liquid courage did help after all... Or maybe it was just her belief.

She took a deep breath and went on her way. Faith was so busy flirting with some random guy that she didn't notice her.

At least that's what she thought.

But barely had she approached the brunette about three feet, this one turned to face her with an expression somewhere between a knowing smirk and an encouraging smile. "Hey, Will, missed you already," she breathed and put her arms around Willow's neck immediately.

And the redhead was promptly confronted with not one, not two, but three very diverse, partly confusing thoughts. One, it hadn't really looked like Faith had missed her. Two, Faith had just called her "Will". The slayer had used this, her actual nickname, only once, if she remembered correctly. Back then, in the Hyperion Hotel, when they had gotten ready for their trip back to Sunnydale. Back then, they had worked together, managing to restore Angel's soul, defeating Angelus. Would they work together tonight again, defeat their lovelornness together?

Three was immediately linked to thought two. Faith came exceptionally close to her, and with that helped her with her little I-can't-dance-problem. The expert slayer-hands moved to her hips and guided her moves. She helped Faith with her presence, Faith helped her with the dancing. They helped each other just like they had back then – only this time there wasn't a lost soul involved, but two broken hearts.

She simply let herself be lead by Faith's hands and slowly found the right rhythm. Still there was one problem – she had no idea what to do with her own hands - and arms, in fact. At the moment those were hanging down her sides uselessly. But little later this problem was solved, since Faith decided to change their dancing position by turning her around and putting her arms around her from behind.

Reflexively Red's hands clasped onto the slayer's arms. At first a little panicked, because the last time she had _this_ much body contact to the brunette was more than five years ago. She still remembered Faith sliding along her throat with her shiny new toy, this horrible knife the Mayor had given her.

But she relaxed quickly since Faith held her gently this time. Suddenly she felt comfortable in the brunette's arms – something she would have never thought possible. Least of all since they were still standing on a dance floor!

Faith took delight in Willow's new-found relaxedness. She knew what had caused this to some extent – she could smell the Whiskey on the redhead's breath. She grinned – good thing she had left her drink there, because Red just felt incredible in her arms. She could even dance if you showed her how, if you gave her some help... Help that was very much dependent on body contact.

She loved it. It wasn't like dancing with B had been. B would have never let her touch her like that. No, this here was way better – Red was way better, because she let her caresses happen, seemed completely consumed by them. To Faith, it wasn't even over the top to say that Willow needed her caresses. And if only for tonight; if only to take revenge on Kennedy.

Willow, however, didn't even so much as think about her still-girlfriend. Right now the brunette in whose arms she was cradled softly seemed so much more exciting than Kennedy had ever been. And this wasn't only owed to the bodily...qualities... pressing into her back...

Still she was so focused on these that she almost missed the soft lips grazing the side of her neck, kissing it tentatively and sadly much too briefly. Were they making amends for the knife that once had been pressed to this delicate spot?

They danced like this for a while – in tune with themselves, in harmony with each other. Connected by their mission to fight their heartbrokenness – or at least suppress it a little.

When the third song they had danced to together ended, they got ready to leave the dance floor. And Faith took heart and put out a question that had been on her mind for several minutes. "So, uh... you... wanna go to my place?" she asked the redhead walking in front of her. And this one faced her with somewhat surprised eyes. "I live nearby". Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe Red wasn't even ready for more. "It's not all that pretty there or anything... but..."

Not without reason was Willow astonished. Nobody had asked her this question before. At least not with the connotation she believed she had heard it from Faith's mouth. It sounded like one of those phrases you hear in overly corny, cliché-ridden movies. Only thing missing was the mention of a stamp collection...

Sure... for Faith their dancing together must have been some sort of foreplay. But... maybe she was wrong, and Faith didn't even mean it... _that _way?

"I...," she stopped, not knowing herself, what she really wanted to say. Before she could think of something to complete her utterance with... in whichever way... her stomach grumbled a reply.

This had to happen – she hadn't eaten anything tonight. She suppressed any kind of emotion, hoping Faith had missed the growling in all the noise of the club. It embarrassed her a little.

But of course... "I've got food..." Slayer-hearing; she hated it sometimes. Faith's look, however, was not at all mischievous, which would have fitted this situation. Rather the slayer seemed almost afraid. Afraid that Willow would reject her.

No, she couldn't just say 'no' now. For one thing, the offer to get her something to eat seemed really sweet, and for another, the motto for tonight was... 'all or nothing'. Sure, she could just leave it here, leave it at just dancing, but Kennedy hadn't left it at just flirting either.

Yet this wasn't about revenge anymore. She wanted this last step for herself – and she wanted it for Faith.

Also she knew that Faith needed this – for her – proper finish for tonight, knew that the brunette would if necessary find someone else to... finish … with. And she could barely stand this thought. No, tonight was _their_ night. "Okay".

Faith smiled in relief. Quickly she handed the barkeeper the money for their drinks, including an extra generous tip and then offered Red her arm. This one accepted and together they left the club. Her bouncer-buddy gave her the thumbs-up and Faith winked in goodbye, pointedly patting a slightly blushing Willow's hand.

After leaving the club, Faith waited until they had rounded the first corner before reaching into the back pocket of her jeans and producing a pack of cigarettes. The club was smoke-free, and the slayer was glad to be out in fresh air again.

But she hadn't counted on Willow. Because just about light one, she felt her action being halted by a resolute hand. She looked over at the redhead questioningly. "If you wanna lecture me and tell me that smoking is bad for my health..."

"I don't," Willow replied immediately, before adding "...although it's true" as an afterthought. She grinned, "but... I really don't wanna kiss an ashtray..."

Smirking, Faith understood this promise and stowed away her bad habits immediately. Willow-smoochies and _more_ definitely sounded yummier right now.

It didn't take them long to reach Faith's apartment. Willow sat down on the bed and let her eyes wander, while Faith retreated to the small kitchen, hunting for food. The brunette had told the truth; it really wasn't the prettiest thing. Though it wasn't all that bad either. Just scarcely decorated and furnished. Only a few pictures hang on the walls, and there weren't any plants to be seen. But apart from that it was okay. Definitely a progress from Faith's little motel room in Sunnydale – even though she only knew that one from hearsay.

While furnishing and decoration seemed of little importance to Faith, the technical equipment in the one-bed-roomer was drool-worthy. She noticed the newest PlayStation... as far as she could tell, she didn't know a lot about gaming consoles. Computers were her terrain, and thus she was aware that the exemplar in Faith's possession was a true beauty. The plasma TV as well left nothing to be desired. Only the stereo, in all its battered glory, seemed a little out of place.

What really impressed her, however, were the school books that were piled up neatly – according to Faith's standards – and resided next to her computer. It brought her some not only academic delight when she saw them. She knew that Faith didn't have to get her GED, Giles would make sure, that she was doing fine financially. But the fact that it still seemed important to Faith to graduate made Willow proud in some way. Who knows, maybe Faith would even head towards an academic career and join her, who now finally was a master of computer science, in the academics club. She had the potential, and Willow was convinced that she also had the necessary skills and knowledge – though Faith had never been one to flaunt this.

"Knew you were gonna notice those," Faith motioned with her head over to the books, stepping into the room again. "Five weeks till the big day". She sat next to Willow Indian style, spread out the eatables between them and busied herself with not looking too embarrassed at the delighted look Willow still sent her way...

...Until the redhead finally focused on the food. Good thing she liked candy, Willow thought, because... Faith hadn't brought her much more than that. Two chocolate bars, one nougat and one caramel with nuts. An apple. A bag of liquorice. A Red Bull. An interesting combination...

With raised eyebrows and an amused smile, she looked at Faith anew. "Oh, wait," the brunette turned around and rummaged through one of the drawers of the dresser near the bed. And conjured up a bag of shrimp chips.

The redhead laughed. Yeah, that should be enough. Only she didn't know how she'd feel after this very special meal.

She pondered, which of these... delicacies... she should try out first and decided on nougat bar; Faith grinned and laid claim on the remaining one. They didn't talk for a while, neither about Faith and school, nor about Kennedy, Buffy or even the others. They seemed to get along without words, and all necessary things about this had been said anyway.

Besides... Faith was busy with something else. Was yet again busy ogling Willow in her sexy leather skirt. Leather – she had to repeat that word over and over in her head. _Red _in_ leather_. Simply... wow...

Willow noticed the fascinated look, of course, and couldn't bite back a, "You're still into leather, huh?"

Faith just wiggled her eyebrows – there was no reason to deny the obvious.

"You know... this skirt is nothing. Once I had on a skintight, black leather corset, combined with black leather pants. Oh, and let's not forget the leather boots...". Faith's sudden 'Okay, now you're shi...uh, kidding me'-face almost made Willow choke on the piece of chocolate she still had in her mouth in amusement. "I'm serious. Back then I had to pose as my vampire doppelganger to prevent a massacre in the Bronze..."

"Huh?" came the bewildered return. Even more Willow in revealing outfits. Why hadn't anyone told her...

"Long story," Willow stopped any of Faith's thoughts with a wave of her hand, "but, uh... I think you would have liked that outfit. And the Willow vamp".

Faith thought about this for a second. "The outfit, yeah, really would have liked to have seen that. But a bloodsucking Will isn't my thing – I'm weird like that. I like you much better the way you are now".

Willow smiled flattered, and continued her... 'dinner'. The apple, a bit of liquorice and big sip of Red Bull. As a precaution she passed on the chips.

Faith waited patiently the whole time, and tried to not think about that one special person who_was_ into bloodsuckers. And when Red finally seemed sated, she got ready for 'attack'. "So... since you didn't let me smoke and all... Can we get started then?"

"That's _so_ romantic...," Willow commented Faith's impatient-sounding utterance sarcastically and watched as the brunette's hand slid up her leg.

"Who said I was romantic?" the other girl grinned before her hand came to rest on the redhead's thigh. Then the grin turned into an affectionate smile. "But if you want that, we could turn on the... damn, the stereo is broken," she remembered that this also meant listening to one of those 'Light FM' radio stations was out of question and pouted. "Hm, I'd say we could play a CD in the PlayStation, but I don't think you're the heavy metal type – and I don't have anything else," she added.

"Oh," Willow covered the hand on her thighs with hers, because Faith's depressed face didn't sit well with her at all. "I can do something about that. What kind of music you want?"

Faith looked up, wondering what Willow was up to. "You decide," she finally said and smiled expectantly.

"Okay. Then you go and a put the food away, while I work on the music". Said and done. Faith put the remains of their dinner back to their appropriate places and Willow concentrated on the music.

She had told Faith that she didn't use magic when it wasn't absolutely necessary – but right now it was. A little spell to contribute to the mood. There wasn't anything wrong with that.

Faith seemed surprised when she entered the room again. "You fixed it?" she asked and checked her stereo. Which was still broken. She cast Willow a questioning look.

"Unfortunately not. But we can do without it." She motioned with her finger, not pointing into a specific corner of the room, indicating that the music wasn't coming from a speaker, but rather was in the air.

"Pretty," Faith laughed. She didn't know the song that was playing, but still she liked it.

"So... can we get started then?" Willow repeated Faith's c_harming_ sentence with a sly grin.

Faith flashed her dimples and came over, crawled up on the bed whose headboard Willow had leaned against in the meantime and laid beside her. Cradling her head in one hand, the other one found its place on Willow's thigh again. But she wasn't forceful, was rather cautious. She looked the redhead in the eyes. "Did I already mention that you look hot tonight?"

"I dimly recall," Willow replied, locking eyes with the slayer next to her. The girl she had never thought she would ever find herself with in a situation like this, but now knew was exactly who she needed tonight. "But... you're not that bad either", she added sincerely.

The brunette accepted this compliment with a smile, pulled Willow closer and leaned in to kiss the redhead for the first time. Mmm. Chocolate, liquorice, a bit of apple, Willow's funky fruit cocktail thing and most notably her Whiskey – a very special flavor mix.

Faith's gentle, tender kissing technique surprised Willow. She had expected a more demanding, brusquer modus operandi. Or was Faith just being this tentative, since usually she only got 'in touch' with men? Probably not... but this thought still entailed a curious question.

And when the slayer released her lips again... "C-Can I ask you something?" Willow dared, not all sure if she even had the right to put out this question to Faith or how she would react to the slayer's answer.

"Sure," the brunette replied, though she much rather wanted to continue with what they were doing right now. Not yet aware that the coming question held some importance for Willow.

"Have you dated a lot...of women?" the redhead got out with a little bit of hesitation, suddenly painfully aware that this little question-and-answer-game might kill the entire mood of this situation.

Faith frowned briefly, wondering what Willow was getting at, but finally replied, "If by 'dated' you mean if I've slept with them..."

"Well, kinda...yeah," her counterpart interrupted. By rephrasing 'dated' with 'slept with', Faith had shown her that she had understood her question like she had meant it. Plus the way the brunette had started her answer had already given her enough information, she thought. And it scared her a little.

The brunette slayer had a certain reputation when it came to bedroom activities. Mostly due to her own bragging. "It's just, um... maybe that means you have more experience than me," she explained her hesitance, unable to stop her hand from fumbling with the hem of Faith's shirt, avoiding eye contact. "Quantitatively. With women, that is. Not men. Well, men too... but, um... I just... I've only been with two girls and..."

"Willow," Faith stopped her, raising her chin with a gentle finger, making her look up again. She knew what Willow wanted to say. The redhead felt a little nervous, feared she wouldn't be able to keep up with her. In early years she had witnessed Willow babble, and it had often been a sign of insecurity. But it didn't belong to Willow now. The Willow of today was a self-confident young woman. And that self-confidence should not be limited to non-sexual parts of life.

Willow looked into the deep brown eyes, the use of her full name telling her that Faith was serious with what she wanted to say now.

"Who cares about experience? It's not important. Plus, I'm pretty sure that you can show a lot more than you think". After all, Willow had been in two long relationships, whereas she had had only one-night-stands with the girls she had ever slept with. "Just think of this as a little more practice, for both of us", she smiled, giving her a short, gentle kiss before leaning back and waiting for the redhead's reply.

Maybe Faith was right, Willow thought. Quantitatively, she probably had had more sex with women, but with much less women than Faith has had. "Practice sounds good," she grinned in her turn, putting an arm around Faith's neck and putting an end to this in retrospect pretty silly discussion by kissing her again.

And so two people came together who had known each other for a long time, had never gotten the opportunity to really get to know each other, however, but still knew enough about each other to understand why this was happening. Revenge and heartbrokenness that melted together and formed a craving on a new level. A level that didn't have to do with Kenny or Buffy anymore.

Of course they were realistic enough to know the following: one of them would be gone come morning, would have returned to her hotel to prepare for the last part of her trip to England. And one of them would be able to smoke again extensively and would weigh up whether or not she should finally take that one guy from the club home with her. Just because. Life goes on.

But they wouldn't ever forget this night spent together. A night without any trace of lack of experience or other problems. And maybe they would have agreed on a re-encounter. Or several.

If only to 'practice' some more.

_END_

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**A/N: Okay, guys, that's the end of this story. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I hope you like how this turned out ;)**


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